Looking for stores in either Philly area or metro DC

[cmlim]

Hi all,

I''ve been lurking around here for the last few months and I''ve learned from everyone.

I''ve started looking online at stores, but I wanted to include some B&M stores as I hunt for an engagement ring. Does anyone know of some good, reputable stores in the Philadelphia or DC area? I''m going to check out Robbins in Philly soon, but as I searched the forum archives anything related to DC stores was a bit dated. When I work in DC, I''m usually in Arlington, but getting up and down the 270 corridor isn''t a big deal either.

Thanks.

 

[quaeritur]

I used to live in DC, but that was before my diamond addiction

. So I'm afraid I can't help you with B&M's there. But you might want to make an appointment to see someone at DirtCheapDiamonds, I believe they're in MD. Good luck!

 

[kavala14]

2 stores in Philly me and my girlfriend went into:

1st was Safians, we were not happy with the selection of settings or stones.

2nd place was Barskys Diamonds, we had a great experience there, they had so many different settings to choose from: Platinum, white gold and they also to custom rings as well. They had a nice range of loose stones to look at and compare.


Kavala14

 

[cmlim]

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On 8/3/2004 8:31:29 AM kavala14 wrote:

2 stores in Philly me and my girlfriend went into:

1st was Safians, we were not happy with the selection of settings or stones.

2nd place was Barskys Diamonds, we had a great experience there, they had so many different settings to choose from: Platinum, white gold and they also to custom rings as well. They had a nice range of loose stones to look at and compare.


Kavala14----------------

Thanks. I will definetely look into them.

Chris

 

[EdSkinner]

If you are considering Robbins, why not try the store in Delaware near the Christiana Mall (just south of Wilmington) If you are comming to the Jewelers row area, beside Robbins, look at Sydney Rosen, Debs, Steven Singer to add to the other 2 mentioned. Jewelers row has 300 jewelers in 1 block so you should be able to find somebody who can get you what you are looking for at a competitive price.

 

[MelanieC]

Hi,

I second trying Robbins Delaware Diamonds near the Christiana Mall. It's right off I-95. They have ideal cut diamonds. I bought my 1.085 H/VS2 Ideal cut diamond there in June. The best is NO TAX in Delaware!! They are owned by the Robbins 8th & Walnut in Philly.

But- If I had to do it all over again, I would buy from an online vendor because the prices are a little lower. I paid $7000 for my diamond and when I got home I compared and the same diamond online was in the lower to middle $6000 range.

 

[cmlim]

----------------
On 8/3/2004 9:44:44 AM MelanieC wrote:

Hi,

I second trying Robbins Delaware Diamonds near the Christiana Mall. It's right off I-95. They have ideal cut diamonds. I bought my 1.085 H/VS2 Ideal cut diamond there in June. The best is NO TAX in Delaware!! They are owned by the Robbins 8th & Walnut in Philly.

But- If I had to do it all over again, I would buy from an online vendor because the prices are a little lower. I paid $7000 for my diamond and when I got home I compared and the same diamond online was in the lower to middle $6000 range. ----------------

Hi,

LOL. I guess I'll stop by when I drive down to DC for work since it's on the way.

When you compared on line which vendor did you use?

Chris

 

[laura2]

Like Noobie said- Princess Jewelers (stores in Vienna VA and Rockville MD) has some really nice diamonds and quality settings, and the prices are good.

 

[Regular Guy]

There's the damn setting question.

Of course, if you used a B&M store like Charleston Alexander or Princess, likely enough they would do it, you'd have a place to return to routinely to have the prongs checked, and you'd have no issue.

This may not solve everything. I've heard (here) anecdotally that the grading of diamonds at B&M stores may not be as good as with internet vendors. So, although you may want to take a conservative approach, using a B&M store, but having the diamond independantly appraised after the purchase, they may resent it. With internet brokers, however, this is routine.

But, then there's all this movement of the diamond around, and time invested.

Returning to the original question...Quest Manufacturing:

http://www.questmanufacturing.com/

could probably set your stone. Also, they could create an attractive ring to set it in, and they're in Northern Virginia.

 

[cmlim]

----------------
On 8/8/2004 9:06:19 AM Regular Guy wrote:

There's the damn setting question.


Of course, if you used a B&M store like Charleston Alexander or Princess, likely enough they would do it, you'd have a place to return to routinely to have the prongs checked, and you'd have no issue.


This may not solve everything. I've heard (here) anecdotally that the grading of diamonds at B&M stores may not be as good as with internet vendors. So, although you may want to take a conservative approach, using a B&M store, but having the diamond independantly appraised after the purchase, they may resent it. With internet brokers, however, this is routine.


But, then there's all this movement of the diamond around, and time invested.


Returning to the original question...Quest Manufacturing:


http://www.questmanufacturing.com/


could probably set your stone. Also, they could create an attractive ring to set it in, and they're in Northern Virginia.----------------

Thanks for the link. I'll check them out.

Chris

 

[noobie]

cmlim,




Charleston Alexander has a good deal of GIA certed stones, so the grades may not be a problem, unlike Mervis which uses mostly EGL.




They don't give you angles unless you ask so it's hard to compare cut. If you're happy with CA, the by all means buy from them, but you may some money from Dirt Cheap Diamonds. Once you have figured out what you want, give Jim Schultz a call and have him get a few stones for you. Drop in on your way up 70 and see him.




What kind of setting are you looking for? I used Quest a few times and am very happy. See my posts in SMTR. You can buy a loose stone from CA or DCD and have Quest set it or you can buy the whole thing from CA or DCD.




Good luck.

 

[Regular Guy]

Noobie,

What is SMTR.

Chris,

Like Noobie, a principal purchase of mine was from Dirt Cheap Diamonds, and I'd certainly recommend making an appointment to drive up to Frederick, after having selected 1-3 diamonds to look at in advance. I also selected the setting from Jim and had his people set it, and although I liked it, my appraiser found that the prongs didn't hold the diamond well, and one prong was sticking up. When I reviewed this issue with Jim and his office, their office agreed with my suggestion that I go to Quest for the necessary repair, also to include rotating the diamond to the position where you could see the GIA engraving, which I had requested be done when I asked them to set the ring originally. I neither requested that they make this repair themselves, nor did they offer -- either to make the repair, nor to reimburse the expected modest cost from Quest. Mostly, these things just take time, you know. Once at Quest, they saw that it would additionally be helpful to actually remake the prongs altogether, so that they were created to hold the diamond properly, and at $75 for the whole repair, it seemed fine.

So, although I can recommend anyone to use DCD for either diamond buying, or both diamond buying with setting, in the latter case, based on my experience at least, you may want to plan for an additional visit to Quest down the way in Virginia for a doublecheck, and possible rejiggering.

The consequence of taking control and seeing that the things that are important to you are taken care of take time...time that going to a jewler instead is also worth considering.

Nevertheless I'd do it again.

 

[noobie]

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On 8/8/2004 3:43:55 PM Regular Guy wrote:





Noobie,

What is SMTR.

----------------

SMTR = Show Me The Ring

 

[cmlim]

----------------
On 8/8/2004 12:14:34 PM noobie wrote:



cmlim,




Charleston Alexander has a good deal of GIA certed stones, so the grades may not be a problem, unlike Mervis which uses mostly EGL.




They don't give you angles unless you ask so it's hard to compare cut. If you're happy with CA, the by all means buy from them, but you may some money from Dirt Cheap Diamonds. Once you have figured out what you want, give Jim Schultz a call and have him get a few stones for you. Drop in on your way up 70 and see him.




What kind of setting are you looking for? I used Quest a few times and am very happy. See my posts in SMTR. You can buy a loose stone from CA or DCD and have Quest set it or you can buy the whole thing from CA or DCD.




Good luck.


----------------

I guess I got lucky since the stones I saw were all had AGS certs. When I plugged them into HCA they are in the high 1's. I was surprised about the pricing, sine the stone I saw was only about $50 more than the equivalent stone I was looking at from DI.

Out of curiosity, do you think the extra one can get from a B&M store might outweigh the potential sales tax hit I would take from not buying online?

I'll move over to you SMTR posts next, but what kind of price breakdown did they give for work and such?

Thanks so much.
Chris

 

[Regular Guy]

So, maybe you've (re)discovered a good find in this store. Possibly even they'll mail it out of state to you and waive the tax...you could ask?

I remember going there a few years ago, and getting the same kind of hit from the person who reported on them in the archives (describing a badly trained sales person trying to talk about cut), and I felt not impressed. There was a sense that the guy in the back room would make deals, and such. Then again, maybe that's always the case. But...there were guys in the back room, and at least then, there seemed something creepy about the set-up.

Now, however, with blunt facts available like AGS certs (not new), HCA scores, and appraisers to confirm the stone, having a B&M with good prices and fairly broad selection sounds promising. Their web site shows a robust selection, presumably on hand, I think you reported they have a sarin machine, so they can work GIA stones up for you right there, too. Still, they also report a 7 day grace period only for the selection, which is narrower than average, so I'm sure you'll want to be careful.

Now, get their management's Leonid's article, get them cued up with PCs and Pricescope to show, and they'll be hip!

Thanks,

 

[Steph T.]

cmlim--

I recently purchased loose stones for custom-made solitaire earrings at Dominion Jewelers (Falls Church, VA--a few miles from Tyson's Galleria) and was quite pleased with the quality, service, and price. The store is a family run business--and is pretty reputable. Ask for Sergio and I'm sure he'll guide ya' in the right direction.

Good Luck with your search!!!

Steph T.

 

[goscottgo]

Try Protea Diamonds in Arlington. It's a small store which means low overhead which means prices are the cheapest I've seen in the DC metro area. I purchased an Asscher there, and of all the Asschers I looked at in the DC area this was the only one where I could see the "steps" clearly. They even gave me a bottle of wine with my purchase!

 

[noobie]

----------------
On 8/11/2004 7:16:27 PM [email protected] wrote:







Hi Cimlin,


Steven Clarke at Liljenquist & Beckstead in Tysons Galleria, McLean.


He is a superb, highly-knowledgeable, but reasonably priced Master Jeweller.

----------------

Of all of the stores in the Galleria, this would be the one I would most likely buy something from.

The designs and wax carvings are all done on-site, but the actual casting work is contracted out. The ballpark prices they gave me were higher than Quest, but I guess reasonable considering the overhead they carry, which would not be small.

 

[joein610]

My wife and I were recommended to Barsky''s when we talking about getting engaged from a longtime friend. Ray Feldman was our salesman and is a wonderful and knowledgeable guy. Barsky''s was the first and only place we walked into in Philadelphia. We found everybody to be professional, kind, curtesous! The prices seemed very reasonable and affordable and the quality suburb. We have been there 3 times since our engagement for more pieces. Today we were there to get my wife''s rings resized and look for her birthday present. Now i''m torn between a diamond bracelet or necklace. I would Not hesitate to make any purchases at Barsky''s. If anybody has any questions about the validity of my post can email me direct [email protected].
Truthfully I typed in Barsky''s Jewelers in google to look at their website and came across this board.. Keep up the Good Work Barsky''s and put the necklace 13.11350 on hold and possibly the 11036 also !! Somehow I''m happy spending alot money on my wife.. Mr. Barsky what was in that coffee that Ray served me??? your longtime customer Joe V